Monday, April 30, 2018

Hate group leader Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel is attacking an unnamed Florida middle school teacher. Undoubtedly, this will result in an attempt to have the teacher disciplined. That is what Staver does particularly when he becomes unglued over LGBT advocacy.

A 14-year-old male eighth grader at Tavares Middle School in Lake County, Florida brought home a printed note last Friday, given to him by his teacher, encouraging him to participate in the "Day of Silence."

Monday (below the fold), two transgender citizens of Wisconsin, a trans man and a trans woman, claim that the denial of medicaid coverage for gender-affir￼ming surgery violates the Affordable Care Act. The lawsuit captioned Flack v. Wisconsin Department of Health Services was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

The litigants, Cody Flack and Sarah Ann Makenzie, are well represented and, while novel, the argument is persuasive. Wisconsin also prohibits Medicaid coverage of hormones and other drugs for gender dysphoria regardless of medical necessity. This dates back to a 1997 regulation.

Under consideration by the Kansas legislature is HB2481. Were this measure to become law it would permit agencies providing adoption and foster care services to the state to discriminate against LGBT citizens. It would constitute an appalling recognition of the establishment of religion. It would also send the message that religion excuses bigotry.

Monday, Frank Cannon has a new post published at Witherspoon Institute's blog. Frank Cannon is president of the American Principles Project (APP), an anti-LGBT hate group (not SPLC designated). We need to go back in time in order to explore the culture of APP which remains unchanged. Please bear with me.

APP was founded by Robert P. George. In late 2009 APP started the Innocence Project. The project's purpose was to provide a venue for George and others to smear an Obama appointee to the Education Department, Kevin Jennings, because Jennings is gay. They claimed that Jennings threatened the innocence of children. It was no dog whistle. It was a shout of bigotry from a bullhorn.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

The latest device, certain to convert Christian children from straight to gay, is Mickey Mouse Pride ears. Apparently, just donning the Pride ears for more than 1.5 minutes is sufficient to turn any kid into Richard Simmons (according to peer-reviewed research). Who knew? Well, it all makes perfect sense to Joseph Sciambra who claims that he can turn gay people straight. Thus straight-to-gay must also be possible.

Prager University (which isn't a university) has filed a notice of appeal in its lawsuit against Google; a case that was dismissed in March. PragerU does not like the fact that some of its videos violate YouTube's acceptable use policy and have been removed or restricted. The press release takes us on a journey to the absurd. But first some background:

At the district court PragerU claimed that Google violated its First Amendment rights to free speech and that Google violated the Lanham Act.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

If all of the writers at LifeSiteNews got together as bulbs in a chandelier, they could not compete with the luminescence of my cell phone screen. One of those scribblers, Jonathon Van Maren, offers: Latest example of how gay ‘marriage’ affects you: Banning books. I stopped being offended by this crap when I realized that the incoherence was entertaining.

Jonathon Van Maren builds up a head of steam. By the time he is done Van Maren will claim that the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges has resulted in books being banned.

American Family Association, an anti-LGBT hate group, is upset that Facebook bans hate speech. Here is the Facebook policy:

We do not allow hate speech on Facebook because it creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion and in some cases may promote real-world violence.

We define hate speech as a direct attack on people based on what we call protected characteristics — race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, and serious disability or disease. We also provide some protections for immigration status. We define attack as violent or dehumanizing speech, statements of inferiority, or calls for exclusion or segregation. …

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Who could react negatively to one of my posts? Daisies spring up from wherever I walk. Yet Michael Brown has complained that I compared him to a 911 terrorist.

I did. It is true and I would do it again. At least he quoted me in context. I was careful to point out that, unlike the terrorists, Brown is nonviolent. What they have in common is a literalist view of sacred literature, accepting it verbatim as the word of their god and then acting accordingly.

There is one part of Brown's kvetch that I feel compelled to react to:

LifeSiteNews employs Doug Mainwaring to defend the faith. Mainwaring is utterly lost when it comes to the SPLC.

I am sometimes amused by ineptitude. Incurious and dumb people are intellectually lethal. Doug Mainwaring is not terribly bright. He is also not terribly curious. Because he is neither smart nor curious, Doug Mainwaring has made a mess. I do not think that he intended to aid a scam but that is precisely what Doug Mainwaring seems to have done.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Hate group leader and Christian supremacist, Tim Wildmon, is having an unwarranted meltdown over the Day of Silence

American Family Association, an anti-LGBT hate group, wants parents to keep their kids home on GLSEN's Day of Silence, this Friday, April 27. That makes no sense at all! The message that we should be sending children is that nothing is more important than their education.

Apparently they are fearful that the kids' peers are more persuasive than their parents. If that's true then they have bigger problems than the Day of Silence.
One cause promotes love. The other cause promotes hate. Which is the more advantageous to young students?

Is Brian S. Brown a foreign agent? That is not as crazy as it might seem. The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires individuals representing the interests of foreign powers in a “political or quasi-political capacity” to disclose their relationship with the foreign government including activities and finances.

Before attempting to answer the question about Brown, let's go back to the formation of World Congress of Families which is under the umbrella of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society founded by historian Allen Carlson. World Congress of Families was formed because sociologists in Moscow became very concerned about declining marriage and birth rates. They solicited the aid of Allen Carlson based on his writings. Carlson also served on President Reagan's National Commission on Children.

Quackpot: Michelle Cretella prostitutes her medical training in an attempt to conform medical science to the teachings of the Catholic Church. That makes her a danger to children and their parents.

What do American Family Association and American College of Pediatricians have in common? Aside from being at the fringes of conservative Christianity, both are deemed hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Both groups devote much of their resources towards attempts to conform the real world to their religious beliefs.

The latest effort to do so is titled: Affirmation isn't helping. That bit of genius appears on AFA's phony news blog. Written by Charlie Butts it is at odds with the overwhelming consensus of medical science when it comes to the treatment of children with gender dysphoria. Mr. Butts might be a wiz with the New Testament but he knows nothing about medicine or science.

Monday, April 23, 2018

Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of the Brush & Nib Studio in Phoenix, would "love to chat with you" providing that you are not gay

American Family Association's news blog is running with ADF: Something wrong when artists face jail time. ADF is Alliance Defending Freedom. American Family Association and Alliance Defending Freedom are both certified hate groups. Oh, and no one is facing jail time. The tragic persecution of Christians is further explained:

Two artists from Arizona are headed to court today in ongoing an effort to defend their First Amendment rights and to literally stay out of jail in the future.

Under threat of up to six months jail time, Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of the Brush & Nib Studio in Phoenix, are seeking to stop a sweeping city ordinance that would force them to create custom artwork that violates their beliefs.

The LGBT Bar offers an important list of legal professional under the age of 40. These individuals have distinguished themselves as lawyers and are fundamentally committed to LGBT equality. Note that a number of these people are partners at name brand firms.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

From the Legacy Wall displayed this week at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange. It highlights contributions to U.S. and world history by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Saturday, the Chicago Sun Times published an editorial titled Give school kids the facts about prominent LGBT people in history. As you may know, the Illinois legislature is considering SB3249. The measure would require every public elementary school and high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the significant role of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in society.

Updated (end of post). According to Katy Faust of Ask the Bigot fame, Hey China, I’m an American Traditional Marriage Supporter. No you are not. You are a marriage equality opponent trying to re-frame a negative into a positive. It's all rather pedestrian and intellectually dishonest. The narrative continues:

My name is Katy Faust. I live in Seattle. I have gay friends and family who I love. And I support traditional marriage. I know that you have probably heard that people who oppose gay marriage are narrow-minded, or bigoted, or are even afraid of gay people. Maybe you think that everyone in the West supports gay marriage, and that those who don’t just can’t handle progress. But that’s all wrong. Let me tell you why.

So, this is a pastor speaking, you pay a ticket to hear him speak. He speaks about overcoming same-sex desires. Hey, that could be outlawed. A church sells a book about overcoming same-sex desires. There's a sale, there's a transaction, that could be banned.

Pride.com ran a story titled: The Internet Is Head Over Heels for This Adorable, Openly Gay 3-Year-Old. It was all harmless. It's not something that I would have written but it was well intentioned. Obviously, a toddler is not openly gay. Gender is solid by the time a kid is three but sexual orientation forms (or is understood) at about 11 at the very earliest.

This sparked a torrent of ignorant abuse from dependable sources. This attracted negative comments to the site (most of which are rather idiotic) and those created more social media attention. The post was deleted but the opprobrium ad absurdum continues. According to LifeSiteNews:

Jim Bridenstine was confirmed on Thursday to be the next administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The swamp got murkier and more toxic.

Bridenstine, a congressman from Oklahoma, is a rabid anti-LGBT bigot. He is also glaringly unqualified for the position. Furthermore, he is the first elected official to hold the position at NASA which has been apolitical since its its inception. Bridenstine is also the first person to run NASA who is neither a scientist nor an engineer. He is also a climate denier.

The last permanent administrator of NASA was Charles Bolden. Bolden is a retired Marine Corps major general and a former astronaut (for 14 years). A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Bolden holds a master of science degree in systems management from USC.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

I really should be cheering them on. Money sent NOM's way could be used far more perniciously.

It is inconceivable that anyone would even think of deleting one of Brian S. Brown's daily pleas for money. I have missed commenting on a couple of these (Brian wore me out). Brown even has others forwarding the same email to the same people who must also be worn out by now. Just how deep is the water in that wishing well? By now they must be at kiddie-pool levels.

Last week I you let know that we were going to need to cut key programs without your help.

Calvin Freiburger has informed me that writing for LifeSiteNews is his day job. That explains everything. He hasn't enhanced his intellectual standing by writing: California set to vote on banning books about treating unwanted homosexual attraction. Freiburger is not the first and he likely won't be the last Defender of the Faith™ to make this preposterous claim. It originated with David French. Mr. Freiburger should think for himself. He might also do some research.

French, who has at times been associated with the hate group Alliance Defending Freedom, has written that bans on conversion therapy are an attack on freedom of speech and (of course) religious freedom. The case law does not agree. In Welch v. Brown the Supreme Court refused to consider a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that bans on conversion therapy do not interfere with religious freedom.

Dr. Kristina Olson at University of Washington started the TransYouth project in 2013 and has recruited over 300 children as participants

Dr. Kristina Olson has been named winner of the National Science Federation's Alan T. Waterman Award. It is the government's highest honor for scientists still in the early phases of their careers. The award comes with a $1 million grant which Olson will use to continue her study of transgender children.

This is important for all LGBT people and our allies. The process of pushing back on superstition with science is as important as the research itself. As I will explain, some people remain confused (perhaps willfully) regarding the difference between faith and science.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Peter LaBarbera (L) and Brian Camenker are both amoral. Laws that everyone else must obey do not seem to apply to them

If someone is going to lecture us about morality, the first obligation is to be law abiding. Peter LaBarbera (AFTAH) is a tax cheat and Brian Camenker (MassResistance) has a long history of noncompliance with Massachusetts law as detailed below.

But first, I received an email from Peter LaBarbera. As most of you know by now the notorious anti-LGBT crackpot has joined MassResistance as an assistant director, whatever that means. LaBarbera's Americans for Truth About Homosexuality will continue to exist. MassResistance and AFTAH are both designated as hate groups by Southern Poverty Law Center.

Peter Sprigg seems determined to ensure that his employer, Family Research Council, is designated a hate group in perpetuity

Wednesday, WMFY, a CBS affiliate in Greensboro, NC has a very good piece on conversion “therapy.” According to the article, nearly 50 bills have been introduced in 24 states targeting the discredited practice. 11 states plus the District of Columbia already have laws on the books and there are more than 40 municipal bans.

But where oh where does one turn for counterpoint? To The Sprigg of course:

Foes of bans say there is no precedent to outlaw this kind of therapy. "We think people should have the freedom to pursue their own goals in therapy, and therapists should be free to assist them," said Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Focus on the Family convinced the Internal Revenue Service that it is a church. In doing so, they destroy the very fabric of nonprofit organization law. Focus on the Family is not a church and the IRS should not have relented under pressure from Focus' lawyers.

California’s legislature is poised to approve one of the most serious attacks against freedom of speech ever contemplated in U.S. history this week. Assembly Bill 2943 is legislation that would place that state in an Orwellian society by banning books, speech, and commercial services that would (in the state’s subjective view) help or encourage any willing consumer to overcome same-sex desires or gender confusion.

Anti-LGBT hate group, Family Research Council, has been subpoenaed to produce records relative to their involvement in Trump's transgender military service ban. They are very displeased. They are also raising money off of the legal process. In an email the hate group's leader, Tony Perkins, explains:

You'll recall that last July, President Trump kept his pledge to end the Obama era of social experimentation in our nation's armed forces. Moving away from political correctness and putting the focus on the military's mission of preparing to fight and win wars, he announced that the military would return to the status quo policy of not allowing individuals to serve who identify as transgender.

Monday, April 16, 2018

The fact that Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz thinks he can get by with outrageous falsehoods is more galling than his distortions

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville (and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops) doesn't understand that Martin Luther King was opposed to discrimination of all kinds. If his late wife is to be believed, King would be in the forefront of the battle for LGBT equality. With equal measures of hypocrisy, fabrication and chutzpah, Archbishop Kurtz explains why he is a proponent of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA).

As we remember the life and tragic death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we should take time to reflect on the role of faith in influencing the public life of our country. King was motivated by his Christian faith to stand for the dignity of every human person.

Six years ago, Lexington, KY, printer Blaine Adamson (right) of Hands On Originals declined to print expressive shirts promoting the Lexington Pride Festival, hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO), because he did not want to convey the messages printed on the shirts.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Dr. Michael K. Laidlaw, an endocrinologist, is a disgrace to his profession. He is replacing medical science with unsound religious beliefs. We cannot know to what extent, or in what circumstances, Laidlaw compromises patient interests on behalf of the Church but he is clearly, first and foremost, a defender of the faith — a Knight Templar rather than a physician. I wrote about Laidlaw just yesterday but if he wants additional attention I will provide it.

LifeSiteNews is an ultra-orthodox Catholic outlet. They have provided Laidlaw with a re-release of a post at Witherspoon Institute's blog. Witherspoon is also an ultra-Orthodox Catholic organization whose president is an Opus Dei numerary. The LifeSiteNews piece is titled: An endocrinologist studies the transgender movement’s most popular kid’s book. They are referring, of course to I am Jazz.

Michael Brown has written an OpEd for the Christian Post. It is titled: California's Shocking 'You Must Stay Gay' Bill. The title suggests that sexual orientation is a choice or something that is reversible. However, there is no intervention known to medical science that can make a gay person straight. No gay-to-straight alchemy exists.

Various forms of Pray-Away-The-Gay (some poorly disguised as secular endeavors) are ineffective and potentially toxic according to just about every mainstream professional peer organization. Gay conversion therapy exists to justify discrimination for the sake of religion.

It turns out that Laidlaw was also interviewed by Church Militant, an ultra-orthodox Catholic site. Let me be clear that I am not attacking Laidlaw's religious faith. In contrast I am questioning his judgment which, in my opinion, substitutes faith for medical science.

David Lane is a shadowy Republican operative and Christian Supremacist who seeks to effect a Christian theocracy on the United States. The holier-than-thou Lane has also been part of an illegal conspiracy designed to defy IRS regulations pertaining to contributions to political organizations. Mr. Lane is also excessively antagonistic to the LGBT community.

Lane is exceedingly confused. In a recent post at his American Renewal Project Lane writes:

March for Our Lives organizers estimated that some 800,000 protesters attended the gun-control spectacle in Washington, D.C. The march was a dry run for liberal’s get-out-the-vote effort in 2018. A more accurate name would have been ‘March for Your Guns’.
[…]

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

As far as I am concerned, if one is not opposed to the practice of conversion therapy on minors then one a promoter. These crazy conservative Christians, including Mr. Parrott, are impervious to the fact that every mainstream medical and counseling peer group concurs that conversion therapy is ineffective and potentially toxic.

Mr. Parrott manages to disingenuously sidestep the issue in an email sent out to supporters today titled: Veto Update: Met with the governor now he needs to hear from you.

I will write that Liberty Counsel is a hate group all the livelong day. Is Staver going to have me carted off to the hoosegow? The stocks? The simple fact of the matter is that Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Liberty Counsel a hate group. That is SPLC's opinion and it is one that they are right to hold. I am free to factually write about SPLC's opinion. I am free to form and write about my own opinions of Mr. Staver and his merry little band of numskulls.

Staver goes on to belch forth:

Liberty Counsel filed a brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit arguing that GuideStar's false and defamatory “hate group” label it placed on Liberty Counsel's profile comes within the federal law known as the Lanham Act.

Ralph Drollinger is an anti-LGBT bigot. He seems to be a tax cheat as well.

According to the Christian Broadcasting Network, VP Mike Pence, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo are just some of the cabinet members who regularly attend a weekly bible study session led by the very controversial Ralph Drollinger. While much of Drollinger's “baggage” has been discussed in the past, I want to add Drollinger's questionable finances to the controversies.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

When marriage discrimination became a lost cause, Brian S. Brown should have found a new hobby.

NOM should really change its name. They were organized to derail same-sex marriage. They lost. Now they are attaching themselves to every anti-LGBT cause that comes along. All of this agitation is always just pretext for asking for money. And they have done it again:

Help Us Stop This Radical Lesbian refers to Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Chai Feldblum. She has been confirmed twice already. Most recently in 2013 by a vote of 54-41. Now, given that she was renominated by Trump the margin is likely to be even greater.

So called "Activist Mommy" Elizabeth Johnston obviously is in desperate need of attention. Positive or negative - it doesn't matter as long as it's about her.

“Activist Mommy” Elizabeth Johnston is really an angry mommy, a bigot and a conservative Christian. I am sure that she is quite conversant in scripture. However, beyond those ancient chronicles of dubious provenance, she thrives on attention and ignorance. I give her credit for creating the attention. She is obviously quite adept at doing so. The ignorance, however, is self-inflicted by someone with little intellectual curiosity and handicapped critical thinking.

In defense of their religion we have seen the book from Ryan T. Anderson as well as articles posted to friendly blogs by Paul McHugh. We have all read the tantrums of ex-trans Walt Heyer. Predictably, the faith-based imitations are obliterated by agenda-free research. The reason is simple enough:

The objective of one group is to defend the teachings of the Catholic Church. In some ways they have created a self-fulfilling scheme. If widely accepted, they make life more difficult for transgender people which they can then dishonestly claim is the result of transitioning.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Brian S. Brown is president of International Organization for the Family, an anti-LGBT hate group. IOF is just an assumed name for the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society. Fiscal year 2016 revenues were $741,601 and it had only four employees. It is not a gargantuan operation. IOF is closely aligned with right-wing strongman Viktor Orbán of Hungary. IOF and Viktor Orbán both need an enemy and that would be George Soros. As an aside, Orbán attended Oxford on a Soros scholarship. But I digress.

One of the many reasons that Family Research Council has been designated a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center is their contention that LGBT people (particularly gay men) are child predators. FRC uses a familiar tactic to raise money. Anger people while posing FRC as a solution.

I have received a series of gimme-money emails with an appeal that is best described as cynical. FRC wants to hit conservative Christian hot buttons:

Friday, April 6, 2018

American Family Association is aptly named as a family business. Don Wildmon, AFA's founder, was far from brilliant but he is a shrewd bigot. Don's son, Tim Wildmon, is noticeably less intelligent and less cagey than his father. Tim's children, Walker Wildmon and Wesley Wildmon, are also on the hate group's payroll. Neither is a wizard and each generation is increasingly incurious. I will get back to Walker Wildmon's latest misadventure shortly.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

On behalf of the Catholic Church, Michelle Cretella is doing her part for disinformation regarding transgender and gender nonconforming youth

I should have known that this was inevitable. The headline at Christian Post- reads: Doctor Slams Trans Study That Claims Using Preferred Names Reduces Depression, Suicide. I wrote about this last Saturday. Researchers at University of Texas at Austin concluded:

In one of the largest and most diverse studies of transgender youths to date, researchers led by a team at The University of Texas at Austin have found that when transgender youths are allowed to use their chosen name in places such as work, school and at home, their risk of depression and suicide drops.

The folks at the Christian Post are having none of it. Based strictly on the applicable science, of course:

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

According to American Family Association, an anti-LGBT hate group, a man who exposed himself to a child at a Target has something to do with Target's policy of accommodating transgender customers. It's the same policy that almost every other major retailer has:

Last week, in a Chicago area Target store, a man forced himself into a bathroom stall being occupied by a young child and sexually exposed his private parts to her. The man ran away before police could arrive.